Yea, you need to get your front end aligned. The shims are placed during alignment to get the proper caster/camber.
'Camber' is the technical term relating to your original question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camber_angle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_angle
Basically, the three things for "aligning" your front tires. Camber Caster Toe-in. Caster/Camber defined above. Toe in is the adjustment to make sure your tires are pointed straight down the road, and are not further apart on the front side, than they are on the back side. The proper alignment will have your car ride better, and less wear on the tires.
when i r/r my front suspension on my '71 gs, i tossed all the adjusting shims into a bin. the i realized that that was a mistake. fortunately i was able to retrieve them as few days later. i have an old high school shop class textbook, circa 1961, that called toe-in, callup? ever hear of that?
Ahhh...mystery solved. You just need to get ft end aligned...or if you have proper equipment, do it yourself. Not simply a matter of sticking in shims until wheel "vertical." Different # shims used at each location to also adjust caster. Anytime anything replaced in ft end should have re-aligned, since over years intermediate alignments adjust for wear...
assuming the tires are in at the top or knock kneed, you can't add shims and you can only take out so many then theres none left. there are offset upper shafts to correct some. 1st make sure everything in frt end is in good condition, ball joints, bushings, and be sure to check ride height. the next step if offset shafts won't correct have frame rails spread by someone that knows what their doing! alignment must be offset to componsate for road crown, if you change ride height very much, bump steer and turning inclination can be affected, a car that doesn't handle well is no fun to drive, make sure things are done correctly,, good luck
